Editor’s Note: Blogging & Plagiarism…
Posted by Lianne on March 1, 2009 · View Comments
I usually don’t like to address things like this on here but after what happened this past Friday I feel I have to. As a blogger, your work is your intellectual property and there are several ways to protect that. A Creative Commons license, a legal page stating what can and cannot be done with your work…both of which I have. Now, this site has been around for almost 3 years in one incarnation or another and I have always had people aggregate my content through the feed. That’s fine….I don’t take issue with that at all. In fact I have a CC License stating that it’s okay to do that as long as you don’t change my articles and you link back/give credit.
So last Friday, I found out that a site called Beauty Product Network had stolen a month’s worth of content from this site. When I say stole, I mean it was aggregated, manipulated to meet their own agenda and republished on their site. They specifically took out things like photos of me from my press photo shoot and my video interview with Phillippe Chansel of MAC because it was me or branded with my name. I was sitting there stunned thinking, how hard could it be to write and produce your own content? Apparently it’s too hard for some people because they think it’s okay to just copy and paste from someone else.
I wrote a scathing letter to their website host including the 25 plus articles they stole, the links to my originals and the site was shut down within 6 hours. When it came back up all of my content was gone, game over – right? Wrong….as of this writing today, two of my latest still appear on their site. The worst thing is, they are running ads on the site. So in a nutshell, there is a site….where they have nothing but content from me and two other blogs AND there is a big “© All Rights Reserved. Beauty Product Network” at the bottom of the page. So not only are they running a site that contains no original content, but they are claiming copyright AND running ads to profit.
So I’m supposed to let someone profit off something that I took the time to put together?? Hell Naw…so now, I’m mad….I can’t help it but I am taking this very personally. TheMakeupGirl is like my baby and I don’t like it when people mistreat my children. I work really hard on the content for this site and when someone thinks they can just run up and take it – that to me signifies a lazy, uneducated, uninspired loathsome person.
So Beauty Product Network, I hope that the feed you are aggregating pulls this article and it shows up on your site if it doesn’t then I will know that you are coming to my site and copying and pasting which in itself is lame. So to remedy that, I have blocked your IP address, and disabled right clicking. I have now also notified Google of the copyright infringement since I see that you are running AdSense. It is against Google’s terms and conditions for you to knowingly aggregate content as a “splog” so I am certain you will be hearing from them shortly. Know that what you are doing is wrong and unethical and that I am totally gunning for you now.
This is unbelievable!
I am totally disgusted by this and as a beauty blogger and professional makeup artist, I am totally appalled that some jerk would steal someone else's hard work. It makes me totally sick to my stomach. I agree with you that using a scripted line or two from a post with credit and link back to the author is okay, but taking complete posts word for word and displaying them on another site is such an insult. Plus these criminals are making money from advertisers! Sick! I know we don't know each other personally Makeup Girl, but you have my support in your endeavor! Kick-ass!
Go get them Lianne!!! That is crazy!!!!! I hope they get shut down and punished for their illegal doings….nuts. You ROCK! And I am so happy our paths have crossed.
xooxox
absolutely disgusting that someone would have the audacity to copy – hope that you have now put an end to it all by blocking and informing google
I hate this kind of crap. I went over to the site just now and this particular article is front page. I'm glad that the feed snatched it and posted it. I hope you get it resolved soon.
This is really getting out of hand. The nerve of some people just blows my mind….good for you Lianne for saying all of this out loud
This is really getting out of hand. The nerve of some people just blows my mind….good for you Lianne for saying all of this out loud
This is horrible! And would you believe it, the site is back up–guess what's the first article? This post…
OMG. Your article about “no copy/paste” got picked up and its on their homepage today. How pathetic is the BPN???!!!!
I just checked out the “other” blog and she has your article on men's skin care up!!
Ugh…I know the suspension may have been a fluke. Because it is still pulling my feed. I notified Google on Sunday though so that coupled with the notification of their host should do the trick. It's just taking longer than I would like.
Wow. I saw the ads when you said that they were stealing. I really try to be careful when I'm dealing with other people's content, but it takes special balls to steal content and attempt to get paid on it.
TJ….
What you do is very different. It's one thing to say check out “Lianne's
post on xyz” or quote part of the article and then link back. And quite
another when you pull the whole feed and then mask the links so that the
reader stays on your site AND you attempt to claim copyright. Very
different…you aren't doing anything wrong sweetie…trust me.
I've come across this a couple of times before (not with this Beauty Product Network, but with others) and you're right, it's an insult to the fullest. I applaud your diligence.
This sucks but that is life on the Internet. You've done a lot but honestly, there is nothing you can do to stop it. The only thing is to continue writing great content and creating fans who support you. (And make sure you put back-links to your own site to make custom stripping a bit harder).
Oh HELL no!!! I am so sorry Lianne…..that is lame,lame,lame. Shame,shame “Beauty Product Network”!!!!! Hell hath no fury like a Lianne scorned……
Okay update….I just spoke with a network admin at the website host and the site was again suspended until all of my material was removed. They asked me to contact them if it happened again. So the splog is back up but without content fro this site wooo!!
go Lianne!!! You are really hot, because you have had this happen to you so many times!! You know what they say…stealing work is the greastest form of flattery (or something like that…lol)
Wow! You should be upset and I hope Google does something and everything works out for you. Ugh!
LOL you are funny Tomara….I am glad it was finally resolved. This is the first time that I had somebody steal a MONTH'S worth of content. That was just crazy.
LOL you are funny Tomara….I am glad it was finally resolved. This is the first time that I had somebody steal a MONTH'S worth of content. That was just crazy.